An Initial Intimation of a yet Banal Discourse: Truck Graffiti Yazid Basthomi English Department, Faculty of Letters, State University of Malang, Malang, East Java, Indonesia e-mail:
[email protected] Abstract: This article provides an initial discussion of truck graffiti. It reviews pertinent literature on graffiti which shows that, despite the fact that graffiti have attracted a number of researchers from different disciplinary backgrounds, truck graffiti have been under researched. It also specifically presents types of graffiti and approaches to graffiti research which demonstrates that, even though truck graffiti might be classified into “public”, they seem to have been overlooked in the realm of graffiti research. This situation insinuates that truck graffiti, particularly those in the Indonesian settings, warrants further explo- ration. Key words: graffiti, truck, Malang, East Java, Indonesia There has been a relatively large body of literature on Indonesia; a number of them deal with politics and economy (e.g., Manning & van DIermen, 2000; Schwarz, 2004; Sulistiyanto, 2004; Santoso, 2003; Niyomsilpa, 2004; Mundayat, 2004; Sulistyo, Achwan & Soetrisno, 2002; Effendy, 2003); some of them deal with the social condition (e.g., Dahana, 2004; Winarta, 2004; Herlijanto, 2003) and culture, including literary properties (e.g., Aveling, 2001, 2004; Acciaioli, 2001; Jordaan, 1997; Beatty, 1996). Yet, there has been, to the present writer’s knowledge, no record documenting research on graffiti in Indonesia. My interest in truck graffiti started from a form of negative feeling I had every time I happened to see them along the streets in Malang, East Java, Indonesia and some other towns nearby, such as, Batu, Pasuruan, Probolinggo, Jombang, Kediri, Tulungagung, and Blitar.